Fool Me Twice
by winedark
Summary: People didn't believe him, but Shizuo knew that Izaya could manufacture any outcome he wanted. More than any Tokyo politician, yakuza, or popular celebrity.


**One-shot**

**Notes. Shout out to jentomboy for helping me out with the ending. She's awesome sauce. **

**Slight BL. **

* * *

Shinra said that Izaya had a reason behind everything he did.

As if Shizuo didn't understand that already.

Three thugs cornered Izaya in the street. A boy with the round face of a middle schooler had a gun pointed at him. Izaya stood slouched into his jacket pockets. His eyes held the disgusted amusement they usually did. He looked as if he'd studied and subsequently assigned the boys the threat level of a yield sign. The stand-off probably hadn't been going on for long.

Shizuo gawked at them. The anonymous text he received this morning gave him an itchy dose of paranoia. Izaya didn't know his phone number though. Right? A blond eyebrow twitched. His hand closed over his cellphone. The sides of it crunched in his grip. Shards of cracked plastic fell to the floor.

People didn't believe him, but Shizuo knew that Izaya could manufacture any outcome he wanted. More than any Tokyo politician, yakuza, or popular celebrity.

Shizuo's amber gaze narrowed behind his sunglasses. He tugged the low hanging cigarette from his mouth and strode ahead. It fell on the damp concrete and Shizuo stepped over it on his way over. Izaya noticed before the students did, their backs facing him. A gratified smirk replaced the information broker's former nonchalance. The cut of his smile was animalistic.

Izaya held his gaze the entire time Shizuo loomed behind the thugs. Even while the boy with the pistol taunted him and aimed the gun at his head.

"Get out of my way." Shizuo clutched the school kid by his hood and yanked him backward. Izaya took a step in reverse. He pulled his hand out of his pocket. Knowing Izaya, he just armed himself with that switchblade. The boys made noise that Shizuo half-head and didn't bother processing at all.

Shizuo stepped beyond the thugs and toward Izaya. With the alley sectioned off behind him, he could only tense backward against the wall. A brief apprehension welled behind Izaya's burgundy eyes. Even cornered, the smug way his mouth formed implied a smile.

"I'm going to murder you." Shizuo informed him.

"Hah-ha," Izaya arched his neck to meet Shizuo's gaze as he approached. He had a prominent collar bone. For all he could manipulate the greater Tokyo area, Izaya himself was a slender guy. "Shizu-chan sure is scary when he's angry." Izaya said, tone upbeat. He glanced over Shizuo's shoulder and his expression shifted. It became more casually calculated.

Shizuo fisted Izaya's v-neck. The other man simply stared at him. His eyes reflected the same smug mischievousness. Shizuo pulled back his other fist to punch him. "That stupid look on your face ticks me off." He said, voice low.

A gun fired.

His ears pounded afterward. It took a moment for him to refocus. When he did, Shizuo frowned and his grip on Izaya's shirt loosened. He turned part-way toward the middle school kids. Apparently they were still around for some reason.

All three guys stood in a state of terror-induced immobilization. The boy holding the gun had it pointed at Shizuo. His hands trembled where they were interlaced around the gun. Shizuo's frown deepened.

"He-he-he's—" A blond boy struggled to talk. For a second Shizuo suspected Izaya of taking advantage of Special ED children. Or thugs with impaired learning disabilities.

The other boy without a gun tensed backward. "He's a freak."

It was an entirely unprompted name-calling. But Shizio heard that one all the time, usually when he used his strength. He paused in puzzlement. Shizuo momentarily ignored that he had Izaya, smirking, by the shirt collar. The fist he aimed at the information broker dropped partway. "Excuse me?" Shizuo said. "What'd you just say?"

None of the boys answered him but they'd all turned fever pale and sweaty. Shizuo tensed his mouth. His tolerance for them was waning. His and Izaya's feud settling didn't involve anyone else.

Then he noticed the blood blooming wide and wider on his shirt.

"I've been shot." Shizuo said upon realization. He viewed the red circle in his white shirt and scowled. His shoulder stung too now that he noticed it. Shizuo released Izaya, sideling him for later. "You fucking shits."

Shizuo strode toward the boys, dragging his sleeves up to his elbows. "You know that guns kill people, right? Should I assume you were trying to kill me just now?" Shizuo wondered out loud. The boys swapped glances. Despite his unease, the boy pointed his pistol at Shizuo.

When no one answered him, Shizuo pressed his fist into the brick wall. Fissure cracks spread out and arched around his hand. "I'm not angry." He said in a monotone voice. "I'm just going to beat the shit out of you so you know not to play with guns. Then you can call your mommies and explain it to them."

As Shizuo advanced on the middle school students, Izaya must have backed against the brick sidewall and snuck passed him. He reached the entrance of the alleyway and glanced backward. His black hair looked glossy in the sunlight. "Well, I'm out. Nice seeing you Shizu-chan. Let's do this again sometime."

Izaya smiled and waved. His eyes formed slits a moment afterward and he sprinted across the street.

Shizuo halted mid-tread toward the boys. His jaw tensed and he became rigid as he relished the idea of someday punching Izaya out. Shizuo pushed the boy gunman out of his path and ran after him. The other students gave Shizuo a wide breadth as he hurried out from the alleyway.

"Hey, we're not done." Shizuo shouted at Izaya. He veered left once to avoid a slow-moving citizen, but he still shortened the gap between himself and Izaya to a few seconds. "Stop sending me texts!"

Izaya glanced over his shoulder mid-run. He grinned. It vanished fast enough to miss. "Well, nobody else is going to Shizu-chan."

Several gunshots fired from behind them. One bullet ricocheted off a street light, dinging as its trajectory changed. "Shooting Izaya is fine, but don't those asshole know I'm out here too?" Shizuo said. "At least aim at him first!" He sought the boys over his shoulder, but he was already too far away. A bullet hit the stop sign beside him a moment later.

"Bastards. Now they're aiming at me?" Shizuo scowled. That felt entirely unprompted.

"When were they not aiming at you, Shizu-chan?" Izaya asked. He turned and slowed to a stop in the street. Izaya leveled his knife to chest level. The steel blade was compact and small. His eyes warmed as they narrowed. He tilted his head, displaying his slender neck and the slope of his shoulder.

Shizuo halted several steps away from Izaya. The stern line of his mouth tensed. He watched him watching him like a buzzard circling its feast.

"Shizu-chan was very helpful back there." Izaya said sprightly. "You were a little early, but it all worked out."

A van skid onto the road. It drifted to a horizontal stop, nearly blocking the lane. The door slid open and several boys peered out. They looked high school age, all with piercings or dyed hair. Izaya glanced at them and smiled. Some of the brats wore brass knuckles and some wielded baseball bats.

They stared straight ahead. As if not even noticing Shizuo and Izaya standing on the sidewalk.

Shizuo frowned and checked behind him.

The middle school students had just caught up with them. The three boys glared ahead, forming a loose triangle with the gunman in front.

"Tragically, Shota-kun's little sister was taken. And unfortunately Shota-kun began taking members of that boy's gang in retaliation." Izaya faced the conflict now instead of Shizuo. His tone was breezy. "I'm sure it was just a misunderstanding, but you know kids that age." Izaya almost sounded reproachful, if not for the gleefulness underlining his tone. "Always looking for an excuse to fight." He said and shrugged his shoulder.

"You bastard. Don't lie. You probably had something to do with all of that." Shizuo grit his teeth. He mimed chocking someone with his twitching fingers.

"Don't be so paranoid." Izaya said, but his smirk implied what he wouldn't admit out loud.

A gun fired.

The sound of gunfire only proceeded more gunfire from both sides.

Shizuo lunged toward the street to stop those dumbass kids from settling their feud in this way. The sound of gunfire bothered his ears. And he also recalled one of those boys had shot him.

Shizuo tripped mid-run and toppled into Izaya. He knocked him with him onto the concrete. The glass window of the shop behind them shattered immediately afterward. Shizuo bunkered down and inadvertently nestled his jaw into Izaya's hair. Izaya went rigid underneath him. Small chucks of crystalized glass flew onto Shizuo's uniform and hair.

He raised his head and fragments of glass fell onto the street. Shizuo scouted the shop for a continuing threat, but most of the window had been scattered by the gunfire. He sighed and looked down at Izaya.

They watched each other with dislike.

Shizio hadn't meant to pull him out of the way. The smirk was gone from Izaya's face. All jovial pretense emptied from his burgundy gaze. It was a look only a few people had seen. "Shizu-chan should talk less or think more." Izaya said in flat tone. His scowl intensified. "Why are you still on top of me? Are you trying to crush me to death?"

Shizuo lifted himself a few centimeters and more glass fell off him. He halted mid push-up. A knife lay against his throat.

Izaya smiled.

Neither of them moved. The noise on the street had only gotten louder. Yelling and fighting. And the screech of police sirens around the street. Shizuo easily tuned it all out. His fingers tensed where they lay beside Izaya's shoulders.

"Just kidding!" Izaya said. He lowered the hand holding the knife. "We both know this wouldn't even make a scratch on you, don't we?"

"You goddamn asshole!" Shizuo said. He mashed his forehead like a weapon against Izaya's. His hands were holding him up or he would've hit him and slung him around. "I should break every bone in your body and throw you in the river. Maybe this city would be less annoying for a while."

"That's a nice little fantasy." Izaya faked a laugh. "Things would still happen here whether I was around or not." The smooth undertone of Izaya's voice had reappeared. "Is it the dealer's fault a customer gambles all his money away or is it the customer's fault for wagering it in the first place?"

Shizuo stared at him blank-faced. "Who the hell cares?"

Again the grin on Izaya's face diminished. "Shizu-chan is as direct as always."

"Shut up."

"Get off of me."

"Fuck no! You'd run off again."

Izaya seemed declined to argue that moot point. His expression finally settled between a smug sneer and a repulsed smirk.

The police arrived.

Along with a news team and camera crew.

Several police officers rushed onto the street. Shizuo stared at Izaya. He didn't raise up even as the officers approached them. Izaya returned the look, equally as expressionless. They both anticipated the mistake Izaya would seize to try to getaway. The rich color of Izaya's eyes shone, opportunistic to their poisonous core.

"Bastard," Shizuo said. If Izaya could identify the intentions and motivations of almost anyone, Shizuo saw only Izaya's. Maybe he was the only one who could.

Izaya smirked.

"… And amidst this startling tale of gun violence, two male bystanders find comfort in each other's embrace." A women reporter stood in front of the sidewalk. "Having not responded to officer inquiries of whether they need an ambulance, both seem to have entered a state of shell-shock. Witnesses say that this man risked his life to save his lover from a hail of bullets."

Izaya's smirk slipped a margin. Shizuo glanced at the reporter. His eyebrow twitched.

"This modern day Ikebukuro couple is an inspiration." The reporter continued. "Excuse me," She turned toward them. "Do you mind if I ask what your names are and how long you've been together?" The camera man panned to Shizuo and Izaya.

Shizuo's gaze narrowed at the lady. Brief uncertainty flashed on the faces of the gathered spectators. "The fuck?!" He said. The news reporter's jaw went lax. "What lover are you talking about lady? The only person I see is this stupid annoying flea—" A shoe pushed into Shizuo's face.

Izaya scooted out from under him in an instant. He stopped several feet away on the street. The camera panned to him and back to Shizuo. "Well, that was fun. Later Shizu-chan!" Izaya smiled. He turned and ran across the sidewalk.

Glass burst under his foot as Shizuo stood. Several lingering bits fell from his clothes. "Crap." He said. After a moment, Shizuo uprooted a lamp post from the street side and ran after him.


End file.
